Fresh facts have emerged on how Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State bungled what would have been a practical end to the intractable crisis between Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and President Goodluck Jonathan.

Prior to the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) election penultimate Friday that saw Amaechi pulling 19 votes against sixteen pulled by Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, the Presidency had been neck-deep in ensuring that Amaechi did not re-contest the election.

The NGF crisis, it will be recalled, gave rise to the creation of a different forum of the ruling party, the PDP Governors Forum (PDPGF), headed by Akpabio as an antidote to checkmate the emergence of Amaechi from seeking a re-election.

Given the enormity of the crisis between Amaechi and President Jonathan, a peace move was said to have been initiated by the leadership of the Senate led by the deputy senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

At that meeting which was held on Thursday, a day before the election, the Senate leadership was said to have met with some principal officers of the party to broker a common ground for both Amaechi and President Jonathan.

A credible source close to the NGF informed Sunday Independent that the Ekweremadu group convinced the Presidency that Amaechi should be allowed to chair the NGF for just another one year and after which he would vacate the position for Jonathan’s choice candidate before the 2015 general election.

“This idea was acceptable to the President before he jetted out to Addis Ababa for the just concluded African Union (AU) summit in Ethiopia.

“But no sooner the Senate leadership travelled to Rivers State to meet with Governor Amaechi on the agreement, than Akpabio boasted to the President that he should not accept Ekweremadu’s proposition as he was capable of turning the tide against the Rivers State governor,” the source said.

“Akpabio told Jonathan that he had most of the governors behind him and that they would vote for the President’s candidate. He boasted that he would disgrace Amaechi in the election”.

It was gathered that when the President later heard in Addis Ababa that Amaechi was declared the winner of the election, he was “very angry” with Akpabio.

“The PDP BoT chairman, Tony Anenih, almost threw him out of his Abuja house when he was called to explain what happened at the election,” disclosed the source, adding that the major reason for the crisis between Amaechi and Jonathan is the latter’s “excessive” neglect of the Rivers State governor who, he said, had done everything to please the president but to no avail.

He revealed that the several oil blocks belonging to Rivers State which the President has collected and given out to Abia, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states was “practically unacceptable to Amaechi”.

“Amaechi had gone to Jonathan severally to complain to him that he was being neglected by his administration. Sometimes the President may even keep him waiting longer than necessary. A clear indication that he never wanted to see the governor,” the source said.

Asked if Amaechi would reconcile with the President, the source replied: “It is already too late. It is the President that needs Amaechi’s forgiveness. Amaechi has both international and local support. Whatever you do to him, whether it is good or bad, the world will react and that is not too good for the President.”

Speaking on the implosive crisis within the PDP, he noted that whatever is going on at the moment is the fallout of the face-off between Amaechi and the President, adding that the Presidency should contain the excesses of the Akwa Ibom State governor because “the man is more problems to the President than ever envisaged”.
Only last week at the marriage ceremony of the daughter to the former governor of Rivers state, Dr Peter Odili in his home Town of Ndoni, Akpabio was said to have made a derogatory statement, saying: “A son of a lion will always be a lion. But a son of a goat is a goat”.

In a reaction to the development, former governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, said that today’s NGF has derailed from what it used to be during their days.

He described what is happening now as “an illegality” which, according to him, is not even worth discussing.

His words: “In our days, we were not using the forum to look for power, but to share ideas on good governance as it affects our states and the country. The whole system has been messed up and Nigerians should not take them seriously anymore.”

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2013/06/ngf-how-akpabio-bungled-peace-effort/

Honestly, Akpabio is a poor strategist and shoddy executor. He had the 'backing' of the Presidency, the PDP Governors' Forum, SS Governors' Forum, SE Governors' Forum, Northern Governors' Forum and still could not deliver!

Haba!

Anyway, I am not surprised. He's just a governor who has access to more money than strategy/good thinking. This is a man that has taken reckless spending to an obscene level in his state:

1. He pointlessly donated two Toyota Prado SUVs as wedding gifts to music star, Tuface Idibia, and his wife, Annie Macaulay. He later said it was 'only' one.

2. He also gave the celebrity couple a cash gift of N3m!

3. The governor also promised that the state would sponsor 20 family members of the couple to “the white wedding” scheduled to take place in Dubai.

4. He announced the donation of N230m on behalf of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum, of which he is its chairman, for the benefit of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, which is President Goodluck Jonathan’s local church.

5. He once gave a cash gift of N10m to the national Under-17 football team – the Golden Eaglets – for beating Mali in a first leg African Under-17 Championship qualifier in Calabar last November.

6. He handed out a cash of N6m to the six South-South PDP chairmen to buy snacks at the party’s reconciliation meeting in Port Harcourt!

Listen to him as he shared this:

“My brother (Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan) said you people (PDP South-South members) are hungry…to take care of your hunger, I’m donating the sum of N1m each to the South-South secretariat of PDP and I would want each of the chairmen to come and collect the sum at the end of my speech so that members could use that to buy (lunch) at Mr. Biggs!”

Lest I forget, was he also not the one that allegedly admitted rigging the primary elections in Akwa Ibom?

And this is the man that Jonathan has made his arrowhead of 2015 politics in the South You can predict the outcome with someone like Akpabio in charge and squaring off with a smarter person like Amaechi.

Any one who does not take responsibility for their actions is a kid.Amaechi ahould take responsibility for betraying his SS brother the president by liasing with the opposition.
SS know who the traitor is and his name is Amaechi
Shifting blame and casting aspersion on Akpabio is not going to help him. Amaechi and his supporters should grow up and face realities go apologise and cooperate with the ongoing anti party investigation with PDP.

His words: “In our days, we were not using the forum to look for power[color=#990000][/color], but to share ideas on good governance as it affects our states and the country. The whole system has been messed up and Nigerians should not take them seriously anymore.”

Using the forum to look for power is Ameachi's problem and was the real problem with the NGF as it was.
We should not forget that there are other people that want to run for president and they are not having troubles. The rumour is that Ameachi wants to be vice P and his presidential candidate is not having troubles

ujoinme: Any one who does not take responsibility for their actions is a kid.Amaechi ahould take responsibility for betraying his SS brother the president by liasing with the opposition.
SS know who the traitor is and his name is Amaechi
Shifting blame and casting aspersion on Akpabio is not going to help him. Amaechi and his supporters should grow up and face realities go apologise and cooperate with the ongoing anti party investigation with PDP.

Were the Northern governors who supported Jonathan guilty of betraying Atiku, Gusau and IBB?

Is Jonathan who agreed to spend only one term of four years guilty of betrayal for toying with a second term?

Was Jonathan guilty of betrayal when he succeeded his boss - Alamieyeseigha when he was 'illegally' impeached?

Has Amaechi declared any intention of running for any post?

Why haven't you addressed the other issues (eg transfer of oil rigs) in the post?

Is Akapabio not truly wasteful and prodigal? Is he not shoddy and clumsy with the way he handled the GF issue?

Dracula27%:

Using the forum to look for power is Ameachi's problem and was the real problem with the NGF as it was.
We should not forget that there are other people that want to run for president and they are not having troubles. The rumour is that Ameachi wants to be vice P and his presidential candidate is not having troubles

Why are you choosing to believe in a rumour when the man involved (Amaechi) has unambigously stated that he's not vying for any position in the presidency?

Are you guys afraid of your own shadows?

Pukkah:

Why are you choosing to believe in a rumour when the man involved (Amaechi) has unambigously stated that he's not vying for any position in the presidency?

Are you guys afraid of your own shadows?

The same way GEJ said he is not yet decided on 2015, he has no problem with the governor and has no hand in his travails.
My brother let us not lie on the obvious.